With high-end workers leaving and insufficient high-end foreign personnel, China lags behind the world in attracting an international workforce and urgently needs to take action to solve the problem, a report has found.

At present, China has a good “hard environment”, such as high-speed trains, airlines and hotels, so the key is for it to improve its “soft environment”, such as visa policies, services and promotions, to attract more overseas tourists.

An innovative plan will see Beijing further embrace foreign expertise as it pilots a green channel for expats seeking permanent residency and makes them more attractive offers to serve various industries.

A Chinese think tank is suggesting the country’s outbound investment has entered a “golden era” of growth, despite a perceived rise in trade protectionism in various parts of the world. The Beijing-based Center for China and Globalization (CCG), a government-affiliated think tank, has published a new report on Chinese outbound investment.

According to a report released recently by the Center for China and Globalization, a Beijing-based think tank that co-organized the Sanya forum, investment cases led by private enterprises rose to 395 in 2016, although the total amount of overseas investment by private enterprises declined slightly from 2015.